David J. Deane

Robert Moffat: the Missionary Hero of Kuruman (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press) David J. Deane Illustrated edition

Robert Moffat (1795-1883) was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary to Africa. In 1816 he was sent out to South Africa and his fiance Mary Smith (1795-1870) followed him 3 years later. After spending a year in Namaqualand, with the chief Afrikaner, whom he converted, Moffat returned to Cape Town in 1819 to marry Mary. She proved to be a remarkable woman and most helpful wife. In 1820 they left the Cape and proceeded to Griquatown, where their daughter Mary was born (who was later to marry David Livingstone), and ultimately settled at Kuruman, among the Bechuana tribes living to the west of the Vaal River. Here he worked as a missionary until 1870, when he reluctantly returned finally to his native land. He made frequent journeys into the neighbouring regions as far north as the Matabele country. The results of these journeys he communicated to the Royal Geographical Society (Journal 25-38 and Proceedings II), and when on furlough he published his well-known Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa (1842). He also translated the whole of the Bible and The Pilgrim's Progress into Setswana.